Discuss ways to improve the quality of your cat's life and longevity through proper nutrition; a place for all of your questions and answers about feeding your kitty!

Please keep discussions fun, friendly, and helpful at all times. Non-informative posts criticizing a particular brand or another poster's choice of food are not allowed in this Forum. References to any brand of food as "junk," "garbage," or other harsh names will be removed.

Hey guys... I'm having somewhat of a meltdown right now because I don't know what to do about cat food. I'm disabled and won't be able to work for a few years, so there's absolutely nothing I can do to increase my income or the amount I can spend on my cats... I tried feeding my cats a 50% canned food diet daily (was feeding them Soulistic canned food and Blue Buffalo dry food), but the wet food cost was almost $50 this month and the dry food cost was a bit over $40.

I don't know what to do because I worry about them having urinary tract problems in the future, which was why I put them on the 50% canned food diet in the first place, and I have been feeding them premium food for ages to hopefully avoid them having health problems later on in life. But there's no way I can afford $90 on cat food a month, as a matter of fact even spending $60 makes it almost impossible for me to make ends meet every month... does anyone have ANY suggestions to cut food costs or something? Do I need to re-home my cats because I can't financially provide them healthy nutrition? My cats are all rescues and I firmly believe that unless there are extenuating circumstances, animals should not be given away, animals are given away by people so readily all the time and it really gets to me... I don't want to be one of those people, and I love my cats so dearly, they are a huge comfort to me

There's no guarantee that high end premuim foods will prevent future health problems Look for foods that have few icky ingredients like grains and fillers. There are some inexpensive brands.

How about feeding a lesser expensive canned food to start? Soulistic is good but those little 3 oz cans can add up in cost over time. Fancy Feast, Friskies, Special Kitty (a Wal Mart only brand), and others are just as food to feed to your cat and usually cost under $1. Just read the ingredient label and make sure there are no grains or gluten. There are often coupons for Fancy Feast and Friskies in the Sunday newspaper coupon section and stores like Target and Wal Mart often have big sales on these brands.

Some brands of foods are available in larger can sizes which are more economical for a multi-cat household. I know that Wellness comes in 5 and 13 oz cans. The 12 oz cans are the most economical. One can can probably last 3 cats a few days at least A case of twelve 12 oz Wellness is about $30 but it should last you at least a month if not longer.

Sometimes you can get coupons directly from the pet food company. It won't hurt to call and ask.

I excell at this stuff. Do you get your check weekly or monthly? After you pay your normal monthly bills, that have to be paid every month, rent, heat, gas, car, ins, etc, how much do you have left over, per week or per month? Leave out your food, their food, cable tv, anything that does not "have" to be paid every month.

Paw mail me if you don't feel comfortable with putting it on here. I did it with 5 cats, and, fed them blue wilderness, it can be done.

Merlin is right, of course. Things like Friskies classic are the way to go. Check around for the best prices on the big cans. Do you follow any blogs or webpage like Smartcanucks.ca? I follow ones like WoofwoofMama and Carolscrittercorner for only pets. Other site here in the State like TotallyTarget.com help maximize your dollars on pet & other savings. I love TotallyTarget since they help me stack the Target coupons with manufacture coupons. Heym sometimes it is on sale & I get to use two coupons one one item. I see that you have Petco by you. Are you using the Petco monthly coupons too? Here is the link to bookmark to print every month. You will need to buy $25. So is the full price of BB food is say $22. and it is on sale for $3 off. You will need to buy $3 more because it is based on the full prices. I sent my niece info on the last Petco sale in July on Arm & Hammer 31 lb box of litter. She printed the online manufacture coupon twice & one July Petco $5 off $25 coupon. She made off like a bandit on two boxes of litter!! Next Sunday, the new Petco ad will be online. Which Blue Buffalo am I looking for a deal on for you?? Aug. 11-12 is the next Petco coupon.

Now the savings on Blue Buffalo are harder to get. You have printed the coupon after you taken the True Blue cat quiz? Also you can shamelessly go to Blue Buffalo Facebook page & beg for coupons. Or as Merlin said, call Blue Buffalo customer service for coupons. Do you have any PetSmarts near by?? We have fantastic sales on our Black Friday (the third Friday in November) on Fancy Feast & Friskies? Do you know if the same is true in Canada? Is your big sale in October for Thanksgiving?? The Black Friday is when I stock up on Friskies & Fancy Feast canned food. I'll keep an eye out for another fantastic 45% off sale on Soulistic at Petco like last month for you. They are few & far between.

Just so everyone is aware, Friskies and Fancy Feast, are made by Nestle Purina, do a search, for consumer complaints for Purina, when I put the link up in here, it gets taken down, mol.

I tried the save money route, by feeding them wet Fancy Feast, the kittens threw it up, the others got a $400 vet bill. Bump was the only one, who didn't get it, cause he won't eat no wet, at all, period, and thee only one who did not get sick.

If I can feed 5 cats, Blue Wilderness, anyone can do it, and I don't bring home that much, just barely enuff to pay my normal monthly bills. I excell at this stuff.

Cookie, great idea about bugging Blue Buffalo, but, I haunt their FB site, long story, and everybody begs for coupons, BB does not even respond, and, they aren't going to give any coupons. One can do the BB test and get a $5 coupon. How I do it, when the BW food is on sale, I stock up on it. I also buy one more can, each week, than I need, and one more bag, than I need, so a lean week, I still have food. Join the Petsmart club, they send you $3 coupons via email, print one, for as many weeks, as the food is on sale. Join the Petsmart birthday club, they send you $3 coupons, on your pets birthday, same thing, print as many coupons, as the number of weeks, its good for.

I don't have a cell fone, I have the basic land lines, cable tv is the basic, I bundle the tv and computer, so its cheaper. I don't go anywhere, I don't buy anything, I pay my normal monthly bills, by their food, and spend $40-$50 a week for food, at the grocery store. This week, I got it down to $42. Ya, I live on bread and lunch meat and the dollor foods, and buy stuff on sale. Ya, I wish, I could go spend $100 for food, but, their food comes first, I buy their food first, whatever is left over, that, is what I have to spend at the grocery store. Bag of potatoes, lasts a long time, ya I get sick of potatoes, but they, come first.

We understand, believe me. I wish at this point we could feed premium food for all. We hope to be able to do better, but for now, we use fancy feast on sale, the turkey and giblets classic and chicken classic and beef classic. We use Friskies pate for a change off and for our ferals.

We do our best. I think Bumps mom is just extrodinary, and we hope to some day be able to do what she can, but just now, we can only do it for our 'special needs' cats.

My cats seemed happier and healthier when I switched to regular cat food. Now I give it to them at treats. Also with my oldest cat I will open a can of cat food and give him a spoonful from it. Always refridgerate and it will stay good. If they are having trouble switching feed them some canned with regular.

Bump, just because your cat threw up from a Purina product doesn't mean all cats do. There are complaints out there about every food. Is Purina a great company? Probably not. But I feed the fosters Friskies because it's all I can afford and 99& of them do really well on it. I believe lower quality wet food is better than any dry food, so it works for us. Kitkat, if you watch the sales and join your local Petco or Petsmart reward program you can feed 3 cats for under $50/month and keep them healthy. I think the only way to get cheaper than that is to consider a raw diet. Remember to stick to the pate flavors and to check the pet store brands too. Fancy Feast really isn't cost effective with those little cans. Good luck!

I'd suggest Friskies or Fancy Feast. Fancy Feast has worked for Bastet and, I've noticed that if you get the 24 packs they sometimes have coupons in them (a dollar off), so it's slightly cheaper than getting the cans separately. May want to grab some dry too. Hope things get better for you!